3 self-contained City Council districts will benefit Staten Island

View full sizeStaten Island Advance photoMid-Island City Councilman James Oddo has had to split his time and attention between the Staten Island and Brooklyn portions of his district. His successor won't have to.

Let’s be honest: The news that Staten Island’s three City Council district will be wholly contained in this borough is not going to be very high on your list of things to celebrate.

But it is worth noting.

The change was announced as part of a preliminary report released Tuesday by the city Districting Commission.

It ends the decades-old situation in which Staten Island had to share one Council seat with Brooklyn, because this borough didn’t have enough population to have three self-contained districts. Now, because of continued population growth here, we’ve earned three full seats out of the 51 in the City Council.

The change will affect the district now served by Mid-Island Councilman James Oddo, but it won’t take effect until after he leaves office because he is prevented by the term-limits law from running for the Council again.

Although his district will no longer be linked to Brooklyn, Mr. Oddo does not foresee radical changes occurring as a result of the district reconfiguration.

He speculated that the district will “gain some geography,” with Oakwood Beach, all of Westerleigh and Todt Hill being included in the revised map. Shore Acres, meanwhile, would fall into the North Shore district.It would still be very much the swing district it always has been.

Republicans have served in the district since it was created almost two decades ago. With a number of Brooklyn Democrats being drawn out of it, that probably won’t change. Still, a solid Democratic candidate could conceivably fare moderately well in what is still more of a mixed-bag district.

The principal advantage to the change is that it allows the representative, typically a Staten Islander, to focus exclusively on Staten Island concerns.

Meanwhile, Brooklynites who make up the minority portion of the current district, have arguably suffered under the current arrangement because the representative has usually been a Staten Islander.

Mr. Oddo, who should know, said, “I understand that Brooklynites want to be represented by someone from Brooklyn and be part of the mainland of Brooklyn.”

Now, they will be able to elect a Council member who can concentrate on that borough’s issues.

As we said, it’s not cause for a celebration, but this consolidation will better serve the interests of the people of the affected boroughs.